Category: Medications

A question that bothers healthcare policymakers a great deal is the one on how to fund pharmaceutical research. It is not an easy question to deal with. That is because, on one hand, medications are ‘public goods’ whose availability guarantees the wellbeing of many people. Yet, on the other hand, medications are ‘private goods’ in the sense that they are mass produced by pharmaceutical companies, which go ahead to make huge profits from them. Yet if pharmaceutical research is left entirely in the hands of commercial interests, something is bound to go wrong. These, after all, are individuals who only care about profits. So it becomes a difficult issue.

All said and done, there are 3 key ways in which we can finance medications research.

Through the patents model: here, it is the pharmaceutical companies that finance the medications research. Then any company whose research leads to the discovery of a new drug is allowed exclusive rights to sell that drug for a certain period of time. In that period of time, it gets to recoup its investment and make a nice profit.

Through grants that are backed by taxes: so in this case, public funds are used to finance medications research – especially in areas where the patent model hasn’t worked well due to lack of commercial viability.

Through grants that are backed by philanthropists’ funds: because the philanthropists are always looking for good causes to support, they can be encourage to direct some of their money to medications research.

The most important thing here is to ensure that the research for new medications is a vibrant and ever ongoing enterprise. You know, just as people are always applying for credit cards at www.getmyoffer.capitalone.com, so is it that robust medical research should be an ongoing, robust enterprise. Granted, undertaking the research for a new drug is not as easy as writing a capital one mail offer review. But there are people who have a passion for these sorts of venture: individuals who wouldn’t mind running 24-7 research enterprises, leading to the production of the new medications that people need for their wellbeing.

The question as to whether people should be allowed to buy medications over the counter is one that attracts lots of debate. One the one hand, you have a group of experts who argue that people shouldn’t be allowed to buy medications over the counter. These experts argue that people should see medical practitioners whenever they experience any symptoms of being unwell. Then, upon being evaluated by medical practitioners, they can have the right medications prescribed. The experts in this school of thought argue that by allowing people to buy medications over the counter, we end up allowing people to mask symptoms of often serious medical conditions. So you end up with a situation where conditions that would have been caught early are masked, until they get to alarming level (which is the only time most people go to see medical practitioners).

There is another school of thought which argues that people should be allowed to continue buying medications that provide basic relief over the counter. They argue that people often find themselves in situations where they can’t get to see medical practitioners straight away. And that by making it impossible for people to buy medications over-the-counter, you would effectively be condemning them to having to cope with pain for long periods of time (before they can have a chance to see medical practitioners).

All said and done, majority of the experts seem to be in the second school of thought. They seem to be of the view that there is no harm in selling the medications that provide basic relief to people over the counter. But there needs to be a mechanism for control of the medications. And complex medications (like, for instance, antibiotics) shouldn’t be sold over the counter under any circumstances.

Thankfully, today’s people are enlightened enough to know when they happen to be dealing with emergencies/when they should seek help from medical practitioners right away. And in any event, pretty much everybody has Internet access today (which can come in handy when it comes to searching for medical information). Thus, for instance, a person may be going online to take part in the dgcustomerfirst.com survey. Then, in between, he opts to carry out a Google search for his symptoms, only to discover that he should see a medical practitioner straightaway. Therefore, given today’s enlightened population, which seems to know when thing are serious enough to seek medical advice, there is surely no harm in having the medications that provide basic relief sold over the counter.

There are many people who are uncomfortable with generic medications. Among these are the individuals who believe that generic medications are ‘fake’. They therefore end up spending lots of money on ‘original’ medications, which they often can ill-afford, given their modest means. Incidentally, we see this trend mostly in third world countries, where the need for generic medications is greatest, given the people’s modest means. You may find a generic drug costing just 10% of what the ‘original’ costs. Yet the drugs have the same potency: the difference is just in brand names, and in the fact that the ‘original’ was manufactured in a western nation whereas the ‘generic’ is manufactured in a place like India.

It is really critical to get people to accept generic medications (especially the poor individuals in the third world nations who need such drugs the most). It is really hard to understand why these individuals often lack proper understanding of these crucial matters. Yet, with globalization, the level of awareness in these nations is often huge – with some individuals even having access to satellite TV. So you find someone who, in spite of being a third world citizen, is still able to access the fxnetworks login page, sign in there, and view TV series on the FX Networks. Yet that very same individual lacks proper information on things that are of direct relevance to him – like, for instance, the potency of the generic medications in question here.

How then, can we get people to accept generic medications?

Well, a good place to start would be by getting the people to understand that medications are always based on ‘formulas’. And that the same formulas used in the manufacture of ‘original’ medications are the same ones that are used in the manufacture of the generic versions.

It is also important for the manufacturers of the generic medications to improve their packaging. That is because many people’s opinions are influenced by simple things, like packaging.

Doctors have a key role to play here as well. They are the ones who prescribe the medications, and it is their responsibility to get their patients to understand that the generic medications are just as good as the ‘originals’.

For you to run a successful wholesale pharmacy business, you need to have a medications warehouse. This is the facility where you’d be storing the medications, so as to ensure that they are available ‘just in time’ – as soon as your customers (the retail pharmacists) order for them. In the absence of a medications warehouse, you’d have to be ordering for the medications from the manufacturers on a daily basis – or after every few days. This could prove to be costly. It could also lead to a situation where you run out of stock for essential medications, ultimately leading to loss of business.

In establishing a medications warehouse, you need to:

Acquire the warehouse building

Reconfigure the warehouse building (to make it fit for purpose)

Install the special medications storage equipment

Install an inventory management system

Procure the medications stock

Closely monitor the movements of medications in and out of the warehouse

Ensure that the medications are restocked as soon as they start running out

Having set up a medications warehouse in this way, the most important thing will be to ensure that you are always in contact with the people manning the facility. This way, they can keep you appraised about the medications that are running out stock, medications whose expiry date is nearing, medications that are received in poor condition… and so on. You can give each of the warehouse attendants a phone line, so as to ensure that they can get in touch with you whenever need arises. Besides the price of the phone, the only recurrent expenditure you’d have to be catering for there is that of phone bills. If, for instance, it is a Metro PCS phone, you can be giving the storekeepers a special allowance, to pay the bills at the pcspaybill portal. In any event, the bills aren’t likely to be hefty, because such a phone would only be used once in a while. Therefore, the storekeepers can even be visiting the bill payments portal, at www.metropcs.com/payment and paying with their own funds. You can encourage them to view this positively, being as it is part of their medications inventory management role.

If you are involved in dispensing medications, you will probably have to set up some sort of inventory management system. Through the medication inventory management system, you can be in a position to tell the quantities of various medications you have in stock. You can subsequently be in a position to figure out which medications you need to order (that is, which medications’ stocks are running low). In the absence of a medication inventory management system, you can end up in embarrassing situations. For instance, you could end up running out of essential medications — to the detriment of the people who depend on the medications you dispense. Or you could end up with too much stock of certain medications, ultimately leading to a situation where those medications expire well before they are dispensed.

You have several options, while setting up a medication inventory management system.

Manual inventory management

If you deal with just a few medications that are dispensed only once in a while, you can set up a manual inventory management system. This is where you would acquire a book/ledger, where you would be recording the medication stock movements. If you take this option, you will get to save on the money that you’d otherwise have spent buying an automated inventory management system. But on the downside, this option is time consuming.

Using a computer spreadsheet

Another option is that of setting up a simple, computer-based medication inventory management system. For instance, you can create a spreadsheet, and feed it with the relevant formulas to help you in keeping track of the medication stocks.

Using specialized software

Yet another option is that of buying one of the specialized medication/pharmacy inventory management software systems. This makes sense if you deal with numerous medications, that are always being dispensed – making it hard to keep track of them manually or through a simple spreadsheet. The power of specialized software systems can’t be underestimated. You just have to look at the effectiveness of the krowd darden paycheck system, to see just how effective such systems tend to be. Of course, to be able to use this system, you need to be authorized and to know how to login to krowd portal. But it definitely is a highly effective system. And by opting to use a specialized medication inventory management system, you can attain the same level of efficiency and effectiveness.

If medications are not handled or stored in the right manner, it is very easy for them to lose their potency. When a medication loses its potency, it becomes less effective. It actually becomes hazardous. And if medications under your care happen to lose their potency, you are likely to be held responsible. You see, people will be getting the medications from you, under the belief that the medications would make them feel better – not knowing that the medications have already lost their potency. And if a pattern emerges where medications dispensed by you turn out to be ineffective, your reputation will suffer. Worse still, you could actually be prosecuted for giving people medications that turned out to be ineffective.

If you give people medications that lack potency, you will really have messed them up. Remember, many people have to work long and hard, for them to raise enough money to buy medications. Take, for instance, someone who is a member of staff at the United States Postal Service. So that is a person who gets paid via the USPS staff portal, at www.liteblue.USPS.gov. That is the portal through which USPS workers get their direct deposit. And so that is a person who has to sign up for work through the liteblue extranet. Surely, having worked so long and hard to raise enough money to afford medications, it would be a huge loss if he ended up getting medications that lack potency due to poor handling or poor storage.

Now if you want to maintain the potency of medications, you need to:

Store them in cool places: many medications lose their potency when they are exposed to extreme heat. So you have to keep all medications in cool places. Some actually need to be refrigerated.

Protect them from moisture: most medications will lose their potency (and perhaps become very hazardous) if you expose them to moisture.

Protect them from direct sunlight: there are many medications whose potency will be adversely affected, if they come into contact with direct sunlight.

Sometimes, while running a drug rehabilitation center, it becomes necessary to procure certain medications. These are mostly the medications that are meant to help the people who are undergoing rehabilitation to overcome their addictions with ease. For instance, people who are addicted to opioids such as heroine may require medications like methadone, if they are to be successfully rehabilitated. On the other hand, people who are struggling with alcohol addiction need medications such as Disulfiram, Naltrexone and Acamprosate to help them beat their addictions. Thus the task of procuring medications often ends up becoming a routine one for people who manage drug rehabilitation centers.

You will need to work with a psychiatrist, and perhaps a pharmacist as well, while procuring medications for the drug rehabilitation center. In the process of procuring the medications, you will probably need to:

Identify the specific medications to be procured: these will mostly depend on the types of addictions you usually deal with at your rehab center.

Figure out where to procure the medications: you may be able to procure the medications locally, or otherwise be forced to import them (depending on where you are).

Figure out how the procurement is to be financed: if yours is a public rehab, chances are that you will get an allocation from the public coffers to finance the procurement of medications. If, on the other hand, yours is a private rehab, chances are that the money you collect from rehab clients is what you will use to finance the procurement of medications. Some rehab patients will probably be paying out of pocket, whereas others will be relying on medical insurance – including employer-provided medical insurance. Like, for instance, someone who works at a company like PepsiCo may check at the benefits section of Mypepsico.com, only to realize that services like rehab are catered for under the medical insurance cover. This would just be a question of going to the Mypepsico website, logging in, navigating to the benefits section, and checking the health insurance coverage limits. On the other hand, for rehab centers that are run by charities, the procurement of medications is likely to be funded through donations. Some receive donations of the actual medications.

Make an order for the medications: this you may do on phone, by email or by simply visiting the medications vendor and making the order in person.

Countercheck the medications that are (eventually) delivered: the objective here is to ensure that the delivered medications are the ones that were ordered for.

Like all other people, the folks who live in remote locations need medications. But delivering the medications to such remote locations tends to be a challenging affair. Yet it has to be done somehow. From a business perspective, delivering medications to remote locations can be a lucrative venture. The people who live in remote locations tend to express willingness to pay a premium for their medications. They are grateful just to have the medications, and they are willing to pay whatever it takes for the medication to be delivered there. But we also have cases of impoverished people living in remote locations. Such folks are unable to pay a premium for medications. But still, the medication has to be delivered to them – and this can be a huge challenge to deal with, unless the government subsidizes the delivery of the medications to such populations. All said and done, some of the practical ways in which medications can be delivered to remote locations include:

Through the use of all-terrain vehicles: this is where the medications are nicely packed into all-terrain vehicles, which are then driven to the remote locations for delivery. The orders for the medications (from the remote locations) can be made on phone or online. Nowadays, thanks to satellite technology, even folks in remote locations are able to access the Internet. Someone who is at a remote location can even manage a gift card online, at the Mygiftcardsite portal. This is to say that, thanks to satellite internet technology, a person at a remote location can actually be in a position to visit the Mygiftcardsitelogin page, sign in, and proceed manage the card’s account online. Given such technological capabilities, it shouldn’t be too hard for the folks living in remote locations to make orders for medication online. The medication can then be loaded onto all-terrain vehicles, and delivered to such remote locations.

Through the use of animal transport: some remote locations can only be accessed using animals such as horses and camels. So the medication can be packaged and then loaded onto such animals, for delivery to the remote locations.

Through the use of light aircraft: if the quantity of medications to be delivered is huge enough, and the location is remote enough, then the medications can be delivered there through the use of light aircraft. These could be helicopters or fixed wing airplanes. The latter can only work if there are basic airstrips at the remote locations.

Through the use of drones: this is a new idea, where stuff is increasing being delivered through drones. But it may not be a very viable idea, if the remote locations are very far away – because the drones currently in operation tend to have limited flight ranges.

Nowadays, it is possible to purchase prescription medications over the Internet. Purchasing medications over the Internet can be very convenient. You also stand to save considerable sums of money, if you opt to purchase prescription medications over the Internet. This is because the web-based pharmacies often offer prices that are way lower than those offered by brick and mortar establishments. In today’s article, we will be outlining the steps you need to follow, while seeking to purchase such prescription medications on the World Wide Web. Without further ado, if you wish to purchase prescription medications over the Internet, you need to:

Identify a suitable web-based pharmacy: this can be trickiest part. You see, some of the websites purporting to be web-based pharmacies are actually scam-sites. So you have to undertake research, to know the legitimate web-based pharmacies. Of course, if you are a person who uses the Internet frequently, you will already have (over time) figured out how to tell legit sites from the rest.

Make an order for the medications you need: it is at this stage that you may be required to attach the prescription you are seeking to fill. Before you can order for medications from any given web-based pharmacy, you will probably be required to sign up first. But the sign process is likely to be a fairly straightforward one. It is bound to be as simple as the Mynordstrom sign up process, which Nordstrom employees go through before being able to use the Nordstrom employees portal. Thus just as you have to go through that (sign up) process to gain Mynordstrom access, you will probably have to sign up with an online pharmacy, before you can be able to order medications from there. So you first sign up, then you make an order for the medications you need.

Make payment for the medications: you may be able to make the payments for the medications you need using a credit card or using, say, your PayPal account. If you are entering your credit card details, you have to be very careful. You have to be double sure that you are dealing with a legit site, and that the details you are entering wouldn’t be used in a manner that is detrimental to your interests.

Await for the medications to be shipped to you: having made an order for the medications you need, and made the payments, all you have to do is sit back and wait for the medications to be shipped to you. With some web-based pharmacies, the shipment is initiated within the same day. That means that in some cases, you can order for medications over the Internet in the morning, and receive them in the afternoon.

There are some 4 simple ways in which we can reduce the cost of medications drastically. This is important in a world where there is a general feeling that the cost of medications is too high – which often makes it impossible for poor populations to access essential medications. Without any further ado, those 4 ways in which we can reduce the cost of medications drastically include:

By funding medical research using public resources: as long as the research that leads to development of medications is almost fully funded by private enterprises, the medications will always be very costly. After all, such private enterprises have to recoup their investments, hence that reality of high costs to the end users of the medications.

By supporting the manufacture of generic medications: there are some nations that are against generic medications. Yet such medications tend to be many times cheaper than the ‘original’ medications (with the same level of efficacy). Sometimes, we may need to look beyond the big-pharma profits.

By outsourcing the manufacture of medications: the idea is to get the medications to be manufactured in nations where the cost of production is low, and then passing the savings to the consumers of the medications.

By making the medications to be tax-free: there are still nations where medications are taxed. The tax component can be huge – accounting for as much as 50% of the medications’ cost. Therefore by making the medications to be tax free, we stand a chance to lower their cost drastically. The goal should be to make the medications affordable, even the entry-level store-front employees at, say, Lowes (whose health benefits details are accessed through the Mylowes login screen). Remember, not all people have access to medical insurance. Some people have to pay for medications out of pocket. And if there is a tax element in the cost of the medications, such people often find themselves having to forego essential treatment.